Position:
Research Associate and Director of the Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University
Email: isayrafi@birzeit.edu, director.cds@birzeit.edu
Educational Background:
Imad Sayrafi completed his PhD studies in International Development in the University of Vienna in Austria .” He received a PhD Scholarship from the Austrian Partnership Programme in Higher Education (APPEAR). He also received his Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies from Birzeit University.
Work Background:
He has more than 20-Years’ experience in the field of Development Studies and has been working in the Center for Development Studies (CDS) since 2005. His work experience in CDS includes conducting and producing research, project coordination, survey coordination, and community development project implementation in various Palestinian communities in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian refugee camps in Palestine and exile. He was appointed as director of the Center for Development Studies (CDS) in 2021. He also coordinates the research unit at the center. He was also the the director of the Masters Program in Community Development between 2021-2025, at Birzeit University, in addition to teaching at the program and other Master’s and Bachelor-level programs at the university.
Research interests:
His research interests include: Development sociology, Indigenous theory, settler colonialism, the study of social transformations in Palestinian communities, rural development, and the development of theoretical and methodological tools that further development theory and methods. He is currently working on a number of research projects including research on the effect of International Development on Palestinian social formations, and the project development discourse and practice in the Palestinian context (2021- Ongoing).
Teaching:
| Bachelor’s level: | Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies:CULS331 | Modern and contemporary European civilization. |
| Master’s level: | Masters Program in Community Development; courses; CODE6300: Introduction to Community Development: Theory and Practice,CODE 7300 | Alternative community development: Local and global perspectives. |CODE8311 SEMINAR 2 in Community Development Masters Program in Humanitarian Work; courses: HAIC6360 | Development and humanitarian action, HAIC6350 | Refugees and humanitarian action |
Publications:
Peer Reviewed Journal Publications:
Sayrafi, I. (2023). Toward an Indigenous development sociology methodology: Social reality and change in the Palestinian context. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 19(3), 643–652. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801231187183
Burton, G., Sayrafi, I., & Abu Srour, S. (2013). Inclusion or transformation? An early assessment of an empowerment project for disabled people in occupied Palestine. Disability & Society, 28(6), 819–832. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2013.802223
Other Peer Reviewed Publications (Pedagogical):
Sayrafi, I. (2024). Prospects and challenges of an indigenous development sociology: Reflections on researching the Palestinian frontier. In SAGE research methods: Diversifying and decolonizing research. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529691283
Other journal articles:
Sayrafi, I. (2024). When does solidarity count? Ruptures in imperial and colonial projects and the role of solidarities. NAQD, 8(2), 32a–43a. https://shs.cairn.info/revue-naqd-2024-2-page-130a?lang=fr
Research Studies:
Sayrafi, I., & Taha, S. (2026). Researching research: The ethics of research and work with children in the Palestinian context [Research study]. Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University. https://cds.birzeit.edu/researching-research-the-ethics-of-research-and-work-with-children-in-the-palestinian-context/
Sayrafi, I. (2022). Political ecology and the social solidarity economies within the power matrix in rural Palestine [Research study]. Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University. https://fada.birzeit.edu/handle/20.500.11889/6967
Sayrafi, I. (2022). Survival, leverage, and rural development in Palestine: A sociological assessment of AFPS support to farmers in the Jordan Valley and Halhul [Research study]. Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University. https://fada.birzeit.edu/handle/20.500.11889/6966
Sayrafi, I., Amro, Z., Al Jamal, W., Naser, H., & Abu Khalil, M. (2022). Special schools for PWDs: The issue of social identity. In Conducting emancipatory research in the Palestinian territories: The experience in four governorates (pp. 12–25). Educaid. https://www.educaid.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/EDR-Palestine_Final-version-2024.pdf
Sayrafi, I. (2020). Transformation of rural Palestine: Change and everyday resistance in a Palestinian village [Doctoral dissertation, University of Vienna]. University of Vienna Thesis Repository. https://utheses.univie.ac.at/detail/60171/
Abdul Majeed, A., & Sayrafi, I. (2016). Waqi’ al Nisa’ fi Qita’ al Zira’a fil Difa al Gharbiya: Tahadiyat wa Afaq [The reality of women in the agricultural sector in the West Bank: Challenges and prospects] [Research study]. MIFTAH. http://ramallah.noursoft.com/Records/IndexToPrint?libId=1&recordNo=38088
Jaber, F., & Sayrafi, I. (2014). Lending and development policies in the occupied Palestinian territory [Research study]. Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University. https://cds.birzeit.edu/lending-and-development-policies-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory/
Sayrafi, I. (2014). Disability and change in society: A study on the experiences of a group of people with disabilities in advocacy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, through the project “Empowering People with Disabilities to Claim Their Rights and Entitlements” [Research study]. Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University.
Sayrafi, I. (2013). Invisible people: Women and girls with disability and access to rights organizations in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon [Research study]. Center for Development Studies, Birzeit University.